Modern snowmobiles typically have a snow flap at the rear of the chassis, which extends downward to prevent snow from being thrown up onto the rider by the action of the track. The snow flap is typically mounted at the rear of the tunnel of a snowmobile.
It is best practice, and in some snowmobiling locations it is essentially required, for a snowmobile operator to carry an shovel so that the rider can extract himself, his machine, or his companions from the snow, including when a snowmobile or operator is stuck.
Shovels are often designed to be carried on a user's back, for example, strapped to a backpack. This can result in a user forgetting a shovel, or losing or misplacing a shovel if, for example, it falls loose from the pack. Shovels may alternatively be strapped to the top of the snowmobile tunnel or placed in under-seat storage.
However, a shovel designed to be carried on a backpack or other area of a user's personal equipment or under the snowmobile hood or under-seat storage is often generally smaller than an optimally sized snow shovel. Avalanche shovels for example, like much equipment designed to be carried on the person, are often designed to minimize weight and size, keeping carried avalanche shovels at the lowest end of a useful size range. A larger shovel, if available in an emergency or basic “dig-out” situations, would often be more useful than shovels of the size most users are willing and able to carry.